SCONRES 2 — A concurrent resolution commending the bravery, courage, and resolve of the women and men of Iran demonstrating in more than 133 cities and risking their safety to speak out against the Iranian regime's human rights abuses.

Whereas the Iranian regime has a long history of structural and legal discrimination against women, including barriers for women seeking justice against domestic violence and criminal prohibitions against women singing or showing hair in public and studying certain technical subjects;

Whereas the Iranian regime approved of ``depriving one social right or more'' for any woman who posts an unveiled picture of herself on social media, and, in August 2022, approved of enforcing mandatory hijab laws through facial recognition;

Whereas, through misogynistic criminal statutes, the Iranian regime for decades has detained and engaged in the ongoing persecution of women, including-- (1) Saba Kord Afshari, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison for posting videos to social media without a hijab and transferred into Ward 6 of the notorious Qarchak Women's Prison, which the Secretary of the Treasury has identified as a place at which gross violations of human rights take place;

(2) Raheleh Ahmadi, mother of Afshari, who was sentenced to 2 years in prison for advocacy on behalf of Afshari;

(3) Yasaman Aryani, her mother Monireh Arabshahi, and Mojgan Keshavarz, who were sentenced to between 16 and 23 years in prison for posting a video for International Women's Day in 2019, during which they walked without headscarves through a metro train in Tehran, handing flowers to female passengers;

(4) human rights attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh, who was sentenced in 2019 to years in prison and 148 lashes for providing legal defense services to women charged with not wearing a hijab;

(5) Narges Mohammadi, a prominent rights advocate, who-- G (A) was sentenced to 10 years in prison in May 2015 for ``establishing an illegal group'', ``assembly and collusion to act against national security'', and ``propaganda against the state'';

G (B) was arrested in November 2019 (on the second anniversary of countrywide protests) and rearrested in 2021;

and G (C) had her prison sentence extended in October 2022 to 11 years and 9 months;

(6) former Vice President for Women and Family Affairs, Shahindokht Molaverdi, who was charged with encouraging ``corruption, prostitution, and sexual deviance'', a common charge against women refusing mandatory hijab laws, and sentenced in December 2020 to 30 months in prison for defending the right of women to attend sporting events and criticizing the practice of child marriage;

(7) 6 women who were sentenced by the Culture and Media Court of Tehran in July 2022 to each serve 1 year in prison for the offense of singing songs in public;

(8) Niloufar Hamedi, who was one of the first Iranian journalists to report on Mahsa Amini's death, who was arrested on September 22, 2022, and is being held in solitary confinement;

and (9) countless other women;

Whereas the Iranian regime consistently commits a range of human rights abuses in addition to its systematic persecution of women and peaceful protesters, including-- (1) unlawful or arbitrary killings and torture;

(2) trials without due process;

(3) forced disappearances;

(4) arbitrary arrest and detention;

(5) life-threatening prison conditions;

(6) transnational attacks against dissidents;

and (7) severe restrictions on free expression and the media, peaceful assembly and association, and religious freedom;

Whereas Freedom House ranks the Government of Iran as one of the worst human rights violators in the world, with a Global Freedom Score of 14 out of and an Internet Freedom Score of 16 out of 100;

Whereas peaceful protests in Iran during 2022 have focused on grievances such as-- (1) mismanagement of the economy and national resources;

(2) prioritization of funding for terror groups and pariah regimes over social services for the people of Iran;

and (3) widespread political corruption:

<all>Amend the title so as to read:

``A concurrent resolution commending the bravery, courage, and resolve of the women and men of Iran demonstrating in more than 165 cities and risking their safety to speak out against the Iranian regime`s human rights abuses.'''.

Calendar No.

153 118th CONGRESS 1st Session S.

CON.

RES.

2 _______________________________________________________________________ CONCURRENT RESOLUTION Commending the bravery, courage, and resolve of the women and men of Iran demonstrating in more than 133 cities and risking their safety to speak out against the Iranian regime's human rights abuses.

_______________________________________________________________________ July 25, 2023 Reported without amendment, and an amendment to the preamble, and an amendment to the title